Advances in the field of wireless LAN technology has led to the availability of relatively inexpensive wireless LAN equipment, thus giving rise to the so-called “Enterprise Guesting” market. Many companies and institutions now offer wireless LAN enterprise access in different locations, such as meeting rooms and lobbies, affording visitors the ability to gain network access. One key issue associated with Enterprise Guesting is how to distinguish between guests and internal (i.e., local) users in order to route traffic on different paths. Preferably, guest traffic should travel to an enterprise gateway for routing to an external destination, such as the Internet or the guest's own intranet (through VPN). (In the event traffic from a guest is destined for the local network, that traffic should enter the network through a corporate firewall, as would any other external traffic.) A local user connected via an “Enterprise” access point should receive wireless access from such an enterprise hot spot just as that user would in other places within the company having wireless LAN access point(s). Traffic from the local user should enter the local network just as if the user were connected by a wired connection.
Once existing solution to the problem of separating local user traffic from guest traffic requires that only guests enjoy wireless LAN access at an enterprise access point (“hot spot”.) Local users must access the enterprise access point just like visitors do. To allow a local user to enjoy access to the local intranet, one or more additional access points must exist alongside enterprise (guest host) access point(s). Another solution makes use of MAC addresses to distinguish between guests and local users. Such a solution requires all local users to register their wireless cards and requires maintenance of a hardware database.
Thus, there is need for a technique for separating traffic from guests and local users at an enterprise hot spot that overcomes the aforementioned disadvantages.